


The Fighting Type

by shoeberray



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 17:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11926071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoeberray/pseuds/shoeberray
Summary: Kurenai didn't have any specific interest the day she met Asuma even if he considered her a friend immediately. Only over time does she develop affection for him and only through the tribulations of battle does she recognize her romantic feelings. The two have an deep understanding for each other that doesn't die even after Asuma's few years of lost convictions.





	The Fighting Type

They met at the entrance ceremony for the academy at the age of five. By chance, they sat next to each other while waiting for the Hokage to show up and start the ceremony. Rather, Kurenai sat in between her parents, and Asuma’s mother sat next to Kurenai’s mother, but the two families were seated next to each other. With the amount of meddling that only parents have when they’re convinced they’re serving the best interests of their children, Asuma and Kurenai soon switched seats so that they sat next to each other. Kurenai was not happy about the situation. Not only was she a shy, young girl that tended to avoid other kids her age, she also thought boys strange. Asuma had no such reservations about gender and did have an interest in associating with other children his age. So, Asuma chatted at Kurenai who answered back shyly when etiquette dictated, and the two parted ways upon entering the classroom. After that, Asuma would greet Kurenai consistently whenever he crossed paths with her, but their acquaintanceship was limited to those short interactions.   
Kurenai managed to make friends with another girl in the class despite her shy disposition. Seiko was the only friend Kurenai made but that didn’t matter to her. She liked solo activities well enough, and she took joy in actually learning at the academy. She quickly rose to the top of the class through her high intelligence, decent taijutsu form, and her ability to exact almost absolute chakra control. Only Asuma jumped ahead of her in scores showing considerably more speed and strength and even performing slightly better in written exams. Not being the jealous type, Kurenai only felt admiration for her fellow ninja in training. It wasn’t a crush yet -Kurenai still didn’t have any special interest in boys- but Kurenai felt a desire to extend her interactions with Asuma past the short greetings.  
Kurenai would have been surprised to find out that Asuma already considered her a friend the moment the two sat next to each other at the entrance ceremony. As a kid, Asuma’s requirements for who he considered a friend were quite low. He considered half of the class his friend, and to be fair, most of those considered Asuma to be a friend of theirs as well. Asuma couldn’t be considered the most talkative of kids, but he was friendly and could get along with almost any personality type. He easily held conversations with others, and others easily liked him for being patient and accepting them as they were.  
Asuma did develop a small crush on Kurenai at the academy. He started noticing how pretty girls were, and especially the smart girl with the strange red eyes that was always so polite. He wanted to talk with her more, but he found himself feeling strangely too nervous to approach her past a brief, “Good morning, Kurenai.” It was unsettling for a boy that never had a fear of approaching people. Why couldn’t he get himself to talk to Kurenai when he knew that he wanted to?  
Kurenai ended up making the first move. It was in their last year of the academy when Kurenai no longer stayed away from others out of shyness, but instead out of a lack of desire to socialize. She didn’t have any problem with other kids, she just didn’t see the point in the meaningless conversations they partook in. Though, Asuma might be willing to have discussions with her about chakra theory and the weaknesses and strengths in different taijutsu forms. They could also help each other, Kurenai was sure. Asuma struggled a bit with genjutsu where Kurenai excelled, and Asuma could help her to improve her taijutsu.  
Kurenai stunned Asuma when she proposed the exchange of skills after one of their still almost daily greetings. After she said her usual “Good morning”, Kurenai continued with, “Would you like to train together after class ends?”  
With sweaty hands and a dry throat, Asuma nodded in agreement eagerly, finding himself tongue tied, a concept almost completely foreign to him until that moment. Kurenai smiled glad that Asuma accepted her invitation, and she left to sit next to Seiko as usual.  
When the two met that afternoon, Asuma found his words again. Almost immediately, the two got themselves into an in depth discussion on the proper composition of chakra during genjutsu and whether that necessarily differed in nature from that of ninjutsu. Asuma found his nerves completely dissipating as the conversation with Kurenai went on. In fact, he found talking with her so easy that he couldn’t figure out why it had been so difficult before or why it had taken them so many years to have a proper conversation. Kurenai found talking with Asuma to be just as easy as he did. Asuma might have already considered the two of them to be friends, but that was the day that Kurenai started thinking of Asuma as a friend.  
The two formed a tight bond after that, talking over theories and helping each other improve. Asuma even sat with Kurenai and Seiko in class sometimes though he had many other friends to sit with. Seiko teased Kurenai about it implying that something was going on between her and Kurenai. Kurenai rolled her eyes at the idea. Couldn’t Seiko see that her and Asuma were just friends?  
Soon after Asuma and Kurenai formed their close friendship, they grew apart both growing busy after passing the genin exam. Training and missions took up the majority of both their times. Kurenai wasn’t the only person Asuma didn’t get to stay in contact with as much as he wanted. He drifted away from the majority of his friends at the academy, and he learned the difference between friends and those people you had a few good conversations with. His requirements for friendship became a bit more exclusive than they had been at the academy.  
Kurenai was upset that neither of her two friends were on her genin team. She didn’t know if she could learn to get along with new people. Even when she tried to be sociable with other people, it was almost like they didn’t hear her efforts. It seemed no matter how much she spoke, everyone perceived her as quiet and standoffish. Her new genin team was no different. They didn’t stay completely indifferent to each other -you couldn’t go through multiple dangerous missions together without forming some semblance to companionship- but Kurenai never felt the type of camaraderie she had with either Seiko or Asuma. It didn’t seem enough for her to only get to see them during the odd times she shared a free moment with one of them.  
Asuma and Kurenai got reacquainted when they both decided to take the same chunin exam. Their teammates had already either become chunin or in the case of Asuma’s male teammate, given up on the ninja lifestyle and established a new civilian life. The idea came to them during one of the rare times they had to spend together. They finished training together and sat down to catch up with each other. As Asuma expressed his desire to take the upcoming chunin exams, Kurenai brought up her own matching desire.  
“We could take it together,” Asuma said with a little more excitement than he was prone to. He still had a slight crush on Kurenai, but mainly, he was excited that he had a chance to spend significant time with one of his only remaining friends from the academy. Friendships -as he had come to find out- were hard to maintain.  
Kurenai smiled at the prospect. “That’s a good idea. Who will be our third teammate though?” She had originally hoped to rope Seiko into her team for the exams, but Seiko wouldn’t be able to get a recommendation from her sensei. Apparently, her sensei didn’t think her ready.  
In the end, they had to go through the typical processes put in place for setting up capable genin with teammates for the exam. Raido Namiashi was the other genin put on their team by the higher ups. He fit in well with the team matching Kurenai’s and Asuma’s calm demeanors and complementing their fighting styles. Even so, Kurenai wasn’t sure she liked Raido all that much. He took too much of an apathetic stance towards the well beings of others. For someone like Kurenai who wanted to help the misfortunate and avoided hurting anyone more than necessary, Raido’s cold and calculating view on life rubbed her the wrong way.  
Asuma liked him. He said Raido’s cold personality was just a way for him to compartmentalize, a way to justify the darker sides of ninja life. Kurenai trusted his analysis. He read personalities and the underlying motives behind people’s actions better than her. Kurenai knew well how to read another person’s behavior and emotions, but she struggled a little with the below the surface qualities of people.  
Kurenai didn’t feel any particular fondness for Raido until the second part of the chunin exams. As she had learned before, near death experiences did wonders for bringing people together.   
These particular exams took place in the Land of Rain, a problem for many genin of Konoha considering most knew fire affinity jutsus. Kurenai and her team had no such problem. Sure, Asuma and Raido knew a couple of fire jutsu, but those jutsu weren’t very prominent parts of their repertoire. Asuma fared better with a focus on his taijutsu and wind natured jutsu. Raido relied on his katana and specialized in attacking enemies before they knew where he was. As for Kurenai, she usually took enemies out with genjutsu. The beauty of genjutsu was that most genin hadn’t quite gotten around to learning how to defend themselves properly against genjutsu. Most genin level missions featured fights with strong civilians rather than other ninja, so genjutsu defense wasn’t exactly considered a primary focus. Unfortunately, the more skilled genin did know how to break out of genjutsu and Kurenai found herself a little outmatched when a skilled team from the Village Hidden in a Waterfall attacked her team.  
They attacked at night during Kurenai’s watch while the other two slept. She had set up a genjutsu to make others want to avoid the area, a simple jutsu that already fooled an embarrassing amount of genin in the exam. Embarrassing for the hidden villages they came from and for themselves. The Waterfall team must have noticed the genjutsu and dispelled it because Kurenai could feel the three genin approaching purposefully. Kurenai roused her two teammates quietly. They hid amongst the foliage and set up clones to look like they hadn’t yet noticed anything. Instead of falling for the clones, the Waterfall team headed directly towards the Leaf team. Asuma triggered a trap Kurenai had set up, but the team from Waterfall dodged it with ease. They knew right away the fight wouldn’t be easy.  
It was one guy on the other team that was leaps and bounds above the others in skill levels. Kurenai realized this as the guy fighting her easily led her away from the others. Any genjutsu she tried on him failed which was preposterous considering her expertise in genjutsu. She had been told that she was a prodigy where genjutsu was concerned, and even some jonin fell for her tricks for a small amount of time. She never expected someone in the chunin exams to brush off her every attempt with only a smidge of effort.  
Kurenai was not a one trick pony. Genjutsu was always her best bet, but she had other talents. Once she realized her usual method of attack had scant effect on her opponent, she resorted to her taijutsu. She had a unique fighting style that often caught people off guard. Her opponents usually had trouble figuring out why they weren’t winning when they fought Kurenai. Kurenai’s problem was that she wasn’t as quick or as strong as a lot of the people she went up against, so she learned to compensate. She might get hit more often than she’d like and land a hit of her own less often than she liked, but she minimized the damage to herself by focusing her chakra to the places she got hit and made every hit she dealt count by carefully picking just the right part of the body to hit. As a result, her opponents would know that they hit Kurenai much more often than she hit them and think they were winning until they strained to continue on while Kurenai kept fighting much closer to full strength.  
It wasn’t so simple with this guy. No matter how Kurenai tried to direct his blows, he always managed to land a detrimental blow to her somewhere other than where she was expecting. She found herself enfeebled by the mismatch and couldn’t think of a way out. As she stood drawing ragged breaths, Raido arrived blocking the Waterfall guy from attacking her. Raido drew the guys attention to him faring better than Kurenai had but not by much. As soon as Kurenai gathered a bit of breath she rushed in to help her teammate out. Even as a two on one battle, the other guy held his own, but he eventually started feeling the drain from taking on two opponents at once. The guy headed back over to where his other two teammates battled Asuma. Kurenai and Raido rushed after him.  
Asuma was holding his own against the other two but faltered as the third person joined the fight. Before Kurenai and Raido could reach the fight, Asuma fell to a hard blow to the head from the guy Kurenai had been fighting. With a sharp cry, she ran forward to block Asuma from further harm. The tides turned now that it was three against two with Asuma down, but at least, the other two members of the Waterfall team seemed susceptible to Kurenai’s genjutsu. She cast a genjutsu on both causing their peripheral vision to turn dark, a simple jutsu to cast on one person but an A-rank jutsu when cast on multiple people. The effects of the jutsu didn’t put the two out of the fight, but it did keep Kurenai and Raido on a more level playing field.   
The guy with a seeming immunity to Kurenai’s genjutsu worked to get Kurenai away from his teammates since he was better matched to fight him. His intents were too obvious for Raido and Kurenai to let him get away with it, but one of his other teammates had a trick up his sleeve. Slipping past Raido and Kurenai while they were distracted, the shortest member of the team grabbed hold of the unconscious Asuma and held a kunai to his throat.   
“Stop or he dies,” the short guy said in the midst of the fight. They didn’t stop immediately still caught up in the defend and counter of battle, but they both halted when they saw the situation at hand.  
Kurenai felt her blood run cold. Her brain buzzed with activity but no actual coherent thoughts broke into her mind. She’d faced similar situations before with comrades she had less of a relationship with, but never before had someone she cared so much about been held hostage in front of her. An unfamiliar and frightening desire swept through her. She wanted to crush the guy holding Asuma. She wanted to hold him down and squeeze his neck so tight that the skin broke under her grip and blood seeped in between her fingers. She wanted to rip apart his throat and toss it aside while he stared up into her face knowing why she did so. Later, she would be frightened by how violent her thoughts got, but in the moment, she was too angry and scared for compassion.  
“Let him go,” she growled as she tried to keep an eye on everyone involved. The guy holding Asuma hostage laughed increase Kurenai’s uncharacteristic violent urges. Beside her Raido stood still, one hand on his katana as he assessed the situation.  
“That’s not how this works,” the short guy said to Kurenai as he pressed the kunai he held a little more causing a trickle of blood to run. “I have the power in this situation. You do what I say. Give us the-”  
He cut off as Asuma’s hand swung back and a trench knife entered his throat from the sharp point. The kunai fell slowly from his hand, and he fell backwards blood dripping from the wound on his throat. “Asuma!” Kurenai called and rushed towards him only to be blocked by the stronger member of the other team. He fought her furiously clearly infuriated by the death of his teammate.  
The fight didn’t last long with Asuma awake once again and them fighting three on two. At the end, Asuma and Kurenai held down the stronger teammate as Raido held down the other one. “It’s over,” Raido whispered blandly maybe to the guy he held or maybe to both of the leftover members of the Waterfall team.  
“Fine. Let us go,” the stronger teammate said tiredly, the fight completely out of him. They released the two and they gathered their teammate together starting to take off.  
“Wait,” Raido called. “Give us the scroll.”  
“Raido,” Kurenai started. She didn’t think it right for them to demand the scroll from them with their teammate lying dead in their arms.  
“He’s right,” Asuma interrupted brusquely. Kurenai stared at him wide eyed. He looked away from her focusing on the ground to his left. “We need the scroll to pass. Otherwise this fight was pointless.”  
Wordlessly, the stronger member of the Waterfall team tossed the scroll on the ground near Asuma. “Don’t let us meet again.” He and his teammate parted after his words of warning.  
As soon as the team was out of eyesight, Asuma turned away and headed over to the area he killed the enemy ninja. He knelt down with his back towards Kurenai. She walked over towards him and knelt down beside him placing a hand on his back. “You had to,” she assured him.  
“Did I? He could have been bluffing,” Asuma said in a strained voice. Kurenai peered into his face. He was pale and his eyes stared blankly at a spot on the ground. Raido walked over and stood directly in front of Asuma drawing his gaze to him.  
“There is no bluffing about death amongst ninja. If an enemy says he’s going to kill someone then he is.” Kurenai and Asuma knew what he meant. Of course ninja bluffed all the time, but assuming a ninja was bluffing was a death sentence.  
“I know,” Asuma said, but Raido’s words didn’t seem to have assuaged his guilt at all. Kurenai felt awful. She hated seeing Asuma like this, but she didn’t know the words to say to take away that expression.  
“I’ll tell you what my sensei said to me after my first kill,” Raido said. “He’s dead, you’re alive. If you wanted it to be the other way around, continue feeling bad about it and tie a rope around your neck later today.”  
Asuma chuckled lightly and stood up. He clapped a hand on Raido’s shoulder. “I’m glad your sensei wasn’t my sensei.”  
Kurenai stood up beside Asuma with a relieved smile on her face for the absence of the disconsolate expression on Asuma’s face. His expression could be considered toned down to merely despondent. She felt grateful to Raido for knowing what to say. “Let’s open up the scroll,” she said. “We need to find out what it says so we can put this mission behind us.”  
They passed that portion of the exam and went on to pass the final part as well. As new chunin, the three of them were often put on the same missions since they worked so well together. Kurenai wasn’t sure she would ever consider Raido a true friend, but she sure respected him from the chunin exams on. As for Asuma, she had a hard time deciding what she was feeling concerning him. He was cute, for sure, and he loved spending time with him more than anyone bar Seiko, but Kurenai didn’t know if that meant anything. What did it mean to like a guy in a romantic way? In what way were romantic feelings different than friendly feelings? Was the only difference attraction or was there something more? Kurenai didn’t bring up her confusion to Asuma. She supposed most girls wouldn’t even consider bringing up a possible crush to the object of their confession, but Kurenai never saw a point to hiding feelings. If she was sure of how she felt about Asuma, she would have told him.  
Kurenai made her first kill not long after making chunin. She didn’t do it with a showcasing of skill or in a life threatening situation like Asuma had when he made his first kill. Hers was by pure accident, mostly. In a fight, she went all out. She didn’t pull any punches. That was a good way for a kunoichi to get herself killed. The ninja she was up against was overmatched by her as Kurenai found out after she already overestimated the man and watched as he keeled over from a kunai to the heart. Kurenai watched stunned as the man died by her hand right in front of her. Not even aware of what she was doing, Kurenai collapsed on top of the dead ninja sobbing onto his bleeding chest.  
Peripherally, she noticed Asuma pulling her away from the man and holding her against his own chest instead. She probably got blood all over him. “You’re not suited for this,” she heard Raido say from behind her. The words got through to her enough to still her crying as she turned to face Raido.  
“What?” she asked brokenly.  
“You should quit being a ninja. If this is how you react to something as simple as death, you should give up on this life altogether. Become a civilian.” Kurenai narrowed her eyes at Raido’s sharp words.  
“Leave. I don’t want you around right now,” Kurenai said.  
“Do as she says,” Asuma said coldly. “Check the perimeter or something.” Raido disappeared, and Kurenai curled back into the comfort of Asuma’s arms until she gathered her emotions enough to stand up and wipe the tears off her cheeks.  
“I’m fine now,” she lied through her sniffling.  
“He’s right, you know,” Asuma said as he stood up, and Kurenai could see the blood she left behind on his vest. She stared down at her front also covered in blood.  
“Who’s right about what?”  
“Raido. He was right that you’re not suited to be a ninja. You care too much about other people.” Kurenai couldn’t believe her ears. She spun around away Asuma. The two stood silently as Kurenai’s blood boiled with anger from Asuma’s betrayal. Slowly, her rage started to cool.  
“You’re not suited to be a ninja either,” Kurenai eventually said without looking at Asuma.  
“I know,” he admitted easily. Kurenai did turn around at that. Her gaze softened at Asuma’s defeated expression.  
“Maybe the best people aren’t really suited to be ninja,” Kurenai said. “And maybe that’s why it’s so important for people like us to be ninja.”  
“The world would be a much darker place if every ninja killed indiscriminately,” Asuma agreed. He was always one step ahead of Kurenai.  
“I like you,” Kurenai said suddenly. She didn’t need to elaborate. Asuma would know what she meant. Her liking Asuma as a person went without being said.  
Asuma blinked in startlement trying to think back to if there had been any signs of Kurenai’s feelings. “Since when?” he asked.  
“I don’t know. Since the chunin exams, I suppose. I just realized it for sure now.”  
Asuma chuckled lightly at that. Here he’d been, silently nursing a crush on Kurenai for years, and she comes out and reveals her feelings as soon as she’s sure of them. He never thought that he would turn out to be shyer than Kurenai. “We’re on the same page,” he said and Kurenai smiled slightly.  
“Good. In that case, let’s go on a date when we’re done with this mission. For now-” She sent a grave look to the body on the ground.  
“I’ll take care of it,” Asuma cut in moving in between Kurenai and the body to block her view from her victim. “Go find Raido. We’re going to need to head back to the village and figure out who sent someone after us.”  
Kurenai did as Asuma said. Raido didn’t apologize for his words and Kurenai didn’t bring them up. They got along better when they didn’t speak of their differences.  
Dating Asuma turned out to not be much different than being his friend. On their first date, they trained together and then went to their favorite barbecue place for lunch. “Is that it?” Seiko asked Kurenai after she dragged the play by play of Kurenai’s date from her distracting herself from her studying.  
“What else would there be?” Kurenai asked.  
Seiko shook her head in exasperation at her friend’s naivete. “Did you guys kiss?”  
“No,” Kurenai said with a shrug.   
“Are you sure it was even a date?”  
Kurenai rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m sure. Do you think I could mistake something that’s not a date for a date?”  
Seiko hesitated. “Well, no, but people don’t train when they’re on dates. It’s not very romantic to attack each other all day and end up sweaty and smelly.”  
Kurenai just smiled secure with the knowledge that the date fit her and Asuma perfectly. “It was romantic for us.”  
Seiko scoffed as she reached for another of her medical text books. “You’re hopeless.”  
Kurenai and Asuma continued to date doing the same things they did as friends. In Kurenai’s mind, that’s what made it so great. She fell for Asuma because she enjoyed spending time with him training, trading ideas, and relaxing silently together, neither feeling the need to fill every silence with unnecessary chatter. Why would she want to do something else on a date when they had a tried and proved method for enjoying each other’s company? Not that she was against the addition of the occasional kiss or so. Kurenai found herself sinking into a steady and comfortable life, or at least as steady and comfortable as the life of a kunoichi could get.   
When the nine tails attacked the village, Kurenai knew she couldn’t just sit back in safety like the elders wanted her to do. Asuma, of course, felt the same way. They both already knew their motivations for being ninja: to defend the ones they loved, to try and keep peace as much as possible in a violent world. Having their goals shut down in the time when the village needed them most cracked the usual acquiescent natures of Kurenai and Asuma. They weren’t the only young teenagers that didn’t accept their debarment from the fighting. Among the forefront of the rebellion, Kakashi Hatake and Maito Gai joined Kurenai and Asuma. They ended up getting a talking to about the Will of Fire. The protest conceded reluctantly, but a mutual respect formed among those that had demanded to be allowed to protect their village.  
Kurenai had been convinced that her circle of friends would be limited to Seiko, Asuma, and occasionally, Raido for the rest of her life, but she found Kakashi and Gai easily became a fixture in her life. With Gai, it was easier. He was strange and exuberant, but he shared Kurenai’s and Asuma’s compassion. Kurenai might not have had much in common with Gai, but she certainly liked him and found it extremely beneficial to train with him. She had been wanting to improve her speed since she made genin, and Gai knew the best techniques for speed training.  
Kakashi was decidedly more difficult for a multitude of reasons. For one thing, he was the most broken boy Kurenai had come across, an amazing feat considering she lived in a ninja village. Not only had Kakashi lost his father and his two teammates, he’d just lost his mentor during the nine tails attack. Kurenai didn’t know much about the situation, but as far as she could tell, Minato was a second father figure to Kakashi. For the first couple of years that Kurenai knew Kakashi, Kakashi hardly seemed to be aware that he was alive. That lifelessness haunted Kurenai. She never wanted someone she knew to endure that level of anguish.  
When Asuma’s brother died, he became a mirror image of Kakashi during his days after the nine tails’ attack. The first day after he heard the news, he trudged into Kurenai’s house and slumped against her door as he stared at her silently. “What’s wrong?” Kurenai asked immediately, in tune enough with Asuma’s mannerisms to tell when something was wrong. In lieu of an answer, Asuma walked over to Kurenai and pulled her into a tight hug. Recognizing that silence was the best thing for the time being, Kurenai hugged him back waiting until he wanted to speak.  
When Asuma finally pulled back, she found herself looking at an impossibility. Asuma’s cheeks were wet, and his eyes were red. Not once in her life had Kurenai seen Asuma cry. She took him by the hand and led him to the couch before getting the story out of him. Her heart broke for her boyfriend as she heard that the brother he looked up to died during an anbu mission leaving behind his baby son. Asuma stayed with her that night mourning his brother with Kurenai in his arms.  
After that night, Asuma adopted the zombie like state that Kurenai had grown familiar with from exposure to Kakashi. Kurenai tried to bring Asuma out from his grief riddled mind, but she saw that nothing got through to him. All she had left to hope for was that time would snap him out of his haze.  
As it turned out, with time came anger. Asuma turned bitter lashing out at his father and the village ideals. It all came to a head when he couldn’t take hearing about the Will of Fire one more time from his father. “That’s bullshit!” Asuma snapped after Hiruzen tried again to impose his beliefs on his son.  
Hiruzen looked sadly at Asuma thinking of Asuma as a kid loudly proclaiming his desire to become a ninja and protect the village like his father. “You didn’t used to think like that.”  
“I used to be naive,” Asuma said. “I know better now. None of this is about protecting the villagers. It’s all a power grab. You and the council encourage us as children to set our lives on the path of ninja under the guise of defending our loved ones, but you’re just playing the same game as all the other villages. You collect as many powerful shinobi as you can to gain political advantages. It doesn’t lead us anywhere closer to peace. It just perpetuates the idea that the powerful control the populace which only breeds more violence as everyone tries to prove themselves the most powerful to gain control.”  
Hiruzen’s shoulders sagged tiredly. “Asuma, your view is clouded by your brother’s death. I know you think he died on a pointless mission-”  
“He did!” Asuma interrupted with a shout. “I know what the mission was. You sent him to sabotage another mission given to Suna. Yes, I know all about that. Suna has started to regain the respect of their daimyo, so you’ve been sending anbu to sabotage their missions to keep the bulk of the daimyo’s mission requests going to Konoha. I fail to see how any of that is part of your precious Will of Fire.”  
“Asuma, you don’t know the intricacies of the situation. It was never about getting ahead of Suna.”  
“Then what was it about? What else could it possibly be about?”  
“I can’t tell you that. It’s classified.”  
“And you can’t even tell your own son.” Asuma knew his own statement was true. His father always made it a point to explain that as the Hokage he had a duty to the village and he couldn’t sacrifice his duty even for family. “I need to go on leave. I don’t want to serve as a ninja of Konoha anymore.”  
Hiruzen was not expecting that. He composed his face trying to not let his sorrow show through. “If you abandon your duty now, I can’t guarantee you will be accepted back when you realize you made a mistake.”  
“I wouldn’t count on it,” said Asuma firmly. “I have no reason to return.” Hiruzen knew from Asuma’s attitude that he had made up his mind. There would be no talking Asuma out of it at that point. With a heavy heart, Hiruzen prepared for Asuma to leave the shinobi forces and Konoha as well.  
“I’m leaving,” Asuma said simply to Kurenai after he visited her to inform her of his decision.  
Kurenai pursed her lips. “Since you just I arrived, I guess I can assume that you’re not talking about leaving my house.”  
“No. I’m leaving Konoha. I want you to come with me.”   
Kurenai’s face was unreadable as she looked back at Asuma. He waited nervously for a reply. “I never knew your sense of humor was so twisted,” she finally said coldly.  
Asuma stepped forward putting his hands on Kurenai’s shoulders. “I’m serious, Kurenai. I can’t stay here anymore.”  
“So where are you going? For how long?”  
“I don’t know where I’m going yet. I’m leaving to figure out where my life is headed, what I should do now that I’m no longer a ninja of the Leaf.”  
Kurenai moved out from under Asuma’s hands. “You quit the force? When did this happen?”  
“Just yesterday. Kurenai, we were wrong. We’re not protecting the people we love. We’re just serving the interests of a political force.”  
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you,” Kurenai said stepping away from Asuma. “You and I have always been on the same page.”  
“I know. We still are. I hate fighting, and I know you do too. I see the look in your eyes every time someone gets injured, adversaries and allies alike. You and I were never meant to live like this. We’re not the fighting type.”  
“You don’t mean this,” Kurenai said pleadingly and then shook her head. “Never mind. Of course, you mean this. We never say anything we don’t mean to each other. Well, you’re wrong. I guess you might not be the fighting type -the fact that you’re ready to give up everything right now gives credit to that- but you’re wrong about me. I’m a fighter. Yes, it’s hard for me to continue hurting others and watching my friends get into situations, but sometimes you have to do things you don’t like for a greater purpose.”  
“What greater purpose?” Asuma asked throwing up his hands growing frustrated that Kurenai wasn’t seeing where he was coming from. “All our lives we were told that we would be protecting our village and our families by joining the ranks, but what are we doing right now? Now that there is no war going on? Half our missions are just slinking around digging up information on foreign dignitaries.”  
“And what about when the next war comes about? Or the next attack? What about the people that come to us for help wanting protection? Or is it just members of Konoha whose lives you think are worth saving?”   
“Of course not, but we can’t save everyone. Ninjas have a very short life expectancy because we throw our lives away for the person willing to throw the most money at us. Why should we die for them?” Kurenai felt like she didn’t know who her boyfriend even was anymore. How could the boy that always spoke passionately about helping people be this same man that wanted to abandon everyone he knew?  
“Because if we all sat back and let murderers get away with their attacks, we’d end up dead anyways. We can save people that can’t protect themselves. That’s why we do it.”  
“I just can’t anymore,” Asuma said shaking his head. “I have to leave. Come with me.”  
Kurenai looked sadly back at the man she loved even if he was so lost at the moment. “You know that I can’t. That I won’t.”  
“I do know,” Asuma said softly. He placed one last, short kiss on Kurenai’s lips and then he left. She wouldn’t see him again for four years.  
Despite the scorn Asuma had displayed concerning risking his life to defend a stranger with a lot of money, he ended up joining the Twelve Guardian Ninja to protect the fire daimyo. At least, the daimyo was up front about what his new job entailed. He had no illusions about serving some larger moral purpose or performing heroic acts. The daimyo hired him as a bodyguard and that’s what he was.  
Asuma settled into his new life making friends with another of the guardians, Chiriku. Chiriku shared Asuma’s calm nature, a trait which Asuma found most of his friends shared. Gai was a notable exception. Asuma knew he could trust Chiriku when he uncovered a secret plan to depose the current daimyo in order to replace him with one that wanted to undermine the Hokage. Together, they gathered the members of the guardian ninjas that opposed the plan to take down the revolt. In the end, only Asuma, Chiriku, and the leader of the opposition survived, but Asuma knew the resulting deaths of the fight were worth starting the fight to protect his father and Konoha. Reinstilled with the Will of Fire, Asuma returned to Konoha.  
Of all the people Asuma knew in Konoha, he reunited with Kurenai last. He was afraid of what she thought of him now. It seemed Kurenai was still the only thing that could bring out his cowardly side. Even as he met up with Kurenai three days after returning, it was completely by chance.   
Asuma stood in a secluded area beside the Naka River smoking a cigarette, a bad habit he had taken on early on in his short career as one of the guardian ninja. “I see you’ve taken up smoking,” a soft familiar voice said from behind him. Almost dropping his cigarette in surprise, Asuma turned in the direction of the voice. Looking more beautiful than ever, Kurenai stood a few feet away wearing a wry smile. “It smells absolutely awful. It’s very unattractive.”  
Asuma chuckled. She was as straightforward as ever. “It’s relaxing.”  
“Have you been avoiding me?” Kurenai asked cutting to the chase.  
Asuma took a long drag of his cigarette before answering. “Yes. I didn’t know if you would want to see me.”  
“Of course I wanted to see you. I haven’t forgiven you for running away, but I still care about you.” Kurenai stepped to Asuma’s side and stared out over the river. “What made you come back?”  
Asuma pulled his gaze away from Kurenai joining her in staring at the calm waters ahead of them. “Everything.”  
“Everything?” Kurenai repeated flitting her eyes over to study Asuma’s face.  
“Yes,” was all Asuma needed to say. Kurenai reached over to him turning his body towards her and capturing his gaze with her red eyes, eyes that were always so intense.  
“I’m glad you’re back,” Kurenai said, and she referred to more than his physical return to the village.


End file.
